Six weeks ago, I stayed at a bed and breakfast in Denver and ended up bringing home bed bugs. A friend of mine, who is a pharmacist, confirmed the bites. As a result, we spent time, money and effort in eradicating them: carpets cleaned, laundry in hot water, steam cleaner, etc., as well as enlisting a pest control company. I realize they are extremely hard to eradicate, however, after four weeks, a bed bug detection dog came to the house and didn't smell anything (eggs or adults). For several days, we didn't have any bites. Then, all of a sudden, we had more red dots - which ended up being flea bites. Mitigated to get rid of them - 10 days of nothing. NOW, this morning, after my son took a bath, I noticed several red bumps on his bottom - four on one cheek, five on the other, three of which (on each side) are in the common "three in a row" of bed bugs; yet, the bumps look DIFFERENT than the bed bug bites. My pharmacist friend is on vacation, so I can't ask her. I'm so very worried... I tried to pop them, and there did seem to be a little pus (compared to bed bug bites, where usually only blood comes out)....could these just be blemishes from sitting on the toilet for too long? OR, could they be the start of chicken poxs? I so hope someone can help.
Thank you all for your responses! I actually took him (he's 5, so no diapers - forgot to mention that) to a local pharmacist. She also said that chicken pox generally starts on the torso. Her reaction was that they don't look like bed bug bites (or any bites for that matter), but that the fact that there are two rows of three in a row each is suspicious. The only real way to tell is to wait and see if we get more (ugh).
Someone asked if there's a way to avoid these nasty parasites - after hours of research on the internet there are a couple of proactive measures you can take - inspect beds whenever you travel, wash laundry in hot water, and, the best, is to invest in a steam cleaner (kills eggs and adults) and diatramacehous earth - food grade - which kills them in a mechanical way. They are largely immune to the available pesticides, so it mainly takes time and elbow grease....also, when we went to the movies recently, I sprayed our seats with an essential oil mixture that repels them: 1 cup water, 10 drops each of rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus and 3 drops of thyme. We also put ALL our clothes (new or used) in the dryer for 30 minutes to kill off any that might be hiding....Anyway, again, thank you.
Shelly R. - THANK YOU!!! I looked up pictures of folliculitis and that is EXACTLY what they looked like! We DID have fleas recently (will it ever end?), but after vacuuming like crazy and sprinkling borax on the carpet, we weren't getting any more bites. How long after the bites does the folliculitis appear? Could you suggest some good sites?
It is possible that it is folliculitis. This is something that can occur after flea bites. If the bumps are red and have a little head on them, then most likely that is what it is. It can be caused from being bitten by fleas. My daugther just suffered from this as well. An antibiotic does the trick in getting rid of this.
My son suddenly got those kind of bumps. I use cloth and disposables, so I used 100% cloth that weekend and it went away. Could be the diapers. Try switching to the more "natural" diapers and see if that helps out at all.
If you are certain you got the nasty little critters from that B&B, be sure to report it on bedbugregistry.com. So sorry you had to deal with this - what a mess!
Chicken pox look sort of blistery. You can google pictures of them online for comparison. They tend to show up on the trunk first I believe. Could be just zits? I occasionally get a few from sitting too long, a bit of sweat and then heat and some irritation/zits can pop up.
I feel for you with all that infestation. I assume you let the B&B know they have bed bugs? We only have had to deal with head lice which are actually fairly easy to get rid of in the house and head. Is there anything one can do to prevent bed bugs, like sprays or something?
My 2-1/2 year old often gets little bumps on his bottom. The doctor suggested hydrocortisone cream. That clears them up quickly. For my little one, it's just irritated skin. As a long time teacher, my experience with chicken pox is that they usually start on the tummy and chest. Of course, they can start anywhere. As someone else suggested, check out the pictures of chicken pox online, and if the spots continue see the doctor.
It could be impetigo....take him to the clinic or doctor.
